ABSTRACT
Lavoisier (1743-94) had explained heat in terms of the ‘caloric theory’, which suggested that heat consisted of a fluid called caloric which could be transferred from one body to another to warm it. Count Rumford (1753-1814) proposed a different theory. He observed that when cannons were being bored the metal became hot and he suggested that mechanical vis viva was converted to heat vis viva. Rumford’s views were not accepted for a number of years. Thomas Young (1773-1829), a British physician and physicist, introduced the term ‘energy’ instead of vis viva.
